Fish the shallows

[ronaultmtd]

Launched at 8:45 A.M. and immediately notice much warmer water than six days earlier...I was dressed in my summer fishing attire...long sleeve Columbia fishing shirt, fast drying nylon long pants and Stohlquist water shoes with my wide brim River Drover hat and Brine Costa sunglasses..66 degrees at launch...last week all the fish came from 14-20 FOW...not today...biggest fish, a fat frisky 27 incher came from 5.5 FOW...same lure selection...barbless hook on the jigheads...9 fish landed...2-24 inch, a 25.5 inch and a 27 inch fish...smallest fish was the ice breaker- a 16 inch football that crushed the swimbait like it was a big boy...fought well above its weight class...had lots of drag pulling off my 2500 size spinning reels...all C&R trip...the water temps at take out was 68-69 degrees..3 hours of fishing...the pollen sacs were a PIA floating on the surface fouling the lines...constant checking and cleaning it off the lures...be glad when the thunderstorm forecast for today flush the pollen out of here...not a single hit came from water deeper than 10 FOW...all shallow water.

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[YakMan1731]

Heck yeah Ron! That's great stuff. I think my favorite part of your post is hearing that it is indeed time for summer fishing clothing to make a comeback. It's so much easier to throw on shorts and a t-shirt than it is to layer up and then squeeze into a dry suit. Congratulations on your excellent day and thanks for the intel!

[Mark]

Ron,

Good going.

When I read your post I was wondering what kind of stripers you were catching -- breeders returning from their spring mission or year-round residents of the Bay activated by warming waters. No answer needed. I was just being curious.

Up here in the windy north, folks are still chasing fish short from the maternity ward. And from what I've been reading on some of the chat lines, their successes have been less than previous years. Of course, they may be using false reports to reduce the competition. But overall, the trend this year here seems to be less fish like you caught in places where they should be based on history.

Thank you for sharing and letting us know good fish are indeed present in some areas.

[ronaultmtd]

Mark, these are all big bellied fish that I suspect are full of eggs...and there are 30 (+) inch fish scattered with them...I lost a really good fish yesterday- the drag kept running even when I was peddling like crazy trying to keep up...one of several sleigh rides...but with barbless hooks you will lose a fish or two...it is worth it to me to save fish from mortality...and I was only trolling two lines with single lures on the lines...

[mchottie]

I'm also hopeful for a rain shower or two, to flush all this pollen.

[Big Mike]

I fished a few miles away from Ron yesterday and my fish were still in deeper water, 12-15’ is my guess (still no FF, just know area from past trips). No 20’s in my mix but high teens were around.

If you head down this way the Potomac proper is still barbless, it falls under the Potomac River Fisheries Commission rules. Creeks and rivers off of it in Maryland can have barbs.

[AintMisBehavin]

Nice Report Ron. I hope the weather holds off long enough for me to get a quick launch in this evening on the South River...

[manlystanley]

..9 fish landed...2-24 inch, a 25.5 inch and a 27 inch fish...smallest fish was the ice breaker- a 16 inch football that crushed the swimbait like it was a big boy...fought well above its weight class...

Wow! Now you got me drooling to start my RF season. Keep the updates coming!

Best Regards,
Stan